In 1963, the Staples boys’ basketball team won the Fairfield County Interscholastic Conference (FCIAC) championship. Since then, Staples has waited 62 years for another title, and the 2-seeded Wreckers finally captured that elusive title with a 10 point win over the top-seeded Ridgefield Tigers on Feb. 26 at Leo Mahoney Arena at Fairfield University.
“I’m just super excited for the program, I am super excited for Staples and I am super excited for the town,” Head Coach David Goldshore said.
Captain Adam Udell ’25 won the Finals MVP with 24 points, including 12 of those coming in the fourth quarter to help Staples seal the victory. Matty Corrigan ’26 made the All-FCIAC Tournament First Team and added another 19 points off of four three-pointers in the Finals.
“It feels amazing, I can’t even put it into words,” Udell said about the win. “I’m so happy and so proud of the boys.”
Ridgefield jumped out to an early lead up 8-4 in the first quarter; however, Staples soon overtook the lead with 20 seconds left in the quarter and never looked back. They held the lead for the rest of the game.
As Ridgefield tried to inch their way back into the game, big three pointers from Udell and Corrigan extinguished any hope, along with the Wrecker superfans in the student section creating an energetic and hostile home court advantage among the 2,200 fans in attendance.
“It was definitely a crazy environment today, it was packed,” Corrigan said. “There were definitely some nerves going in, but our coach had us prepared and we were ready to play the game.”
The team was playing with a chip on their shoulder as they had come up short in the finals the previous two years. Additionally, leading scorer Sam Clachko ’26 was injured and did not play as he suffered a broken wrist on Feb. 1 against Saint Bernard.
“We had a couple of big shots and [the boys] just persevered and they weren’t going to be denied and I’m incredibly proud of them,” Coach Goldshore said.
With this win Staples moves to 20-3 on the season (3-0 in the playoffs), and looks to continue their success in the upcoming State tournament as the 4-seed. The Wreckers play the 13-seeded Kolbe Cathedral (11-9) at 6:30 p.m. at home on March 4.
